Christ commanded us to love Him, love others and to obey this mandate:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

What is a missionary?

In Mexico, and in many other parts of the world, christians are hung up on titles. Religious leaders love to be called pastor, priest, prophet, apostle, etc. The Indians I work with asked me what title I should be called and I said, “servant”. To which they replied “That is not a title”. They were probably right. Servants don’t have titles. So they opted to simply call me missionary. I got to thinking about that term, what does it mean to be a missionary?

I prefer the above definition that “a missionary is someone who obeys Christ’s commands (to love God, love others and make disciples)”, but I researched the meaning of the word (below) and also wrote this definition:

Here’s the definitions of the word “missionary” from my research:

One of the problems in defining “a missionary” is that the term is not found in the Bible. (Neither is the term Great Commision) The words “mission” and “missionary” come from the Latin mitto, which is a translation of the Greek apostollo (to send). An apostolos is someone who is sent. Strong’s Concordance tells us that an apostolos is “a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ [“apostle”] (with miraculous powers): KJV – apostle, messenger, he that is sent. ActBeyond

A missionary is someone sent by God

A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest Jesus said to them again, “…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” —John 20:21

A Christian missionary is commissioned by the Lord to make disciples, followers of Christ. Jesus commands all Christians to share the Gospel, the message of His death and resurrection that conquered the penalty and power of sin.GotQuestions.org/What-is-a-christian-missionary :

The word “mission” originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin missionem (nom. missio), meaning “act of sending” or mittere, meaning “to send”. The word was used in light of its biblical usage; in the Latin translation of the Bible, Christ uses the word when sending the disciples to preach in his name. The term is most commonly used for Christian missions, but can be used for any creed or ideology. Wikipedia.org

Christian Missions and Missionaries

A Christian missionary can be defined as “one who is to witness across cultures”. The Lausanne Congress of 1974, defined the term, related to Christian mission as, “to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement”. Missionaries can be found in many countries around the world. Jesus instructed the apostles to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19–20, Mark 16:15–18). This verse is referred to by Christian missionaries as the Great Commission and inspires missionary work.

An apostle, as defined in the original greek language, is a messenger or one sent on a mission. In other words, an apostle is a missionary. Just as with different callings, though, this call is from God. God calls His missionaries, equips them, anoints them for service. Not all who are called apostles meet the criteria Apostles are missionaries

Obedience, NOT location

A missionary is not restricted by geographical location, but rather by obedience to Christ’s commands

Remember I began with this quote.

“Where you live doesn’t make you a missionary, the mission you’re on makes you a missionary”

Not everyone is able to go to another Country to make disciples but we can all be “on mission” by being obedient to Christ’s commands.

Start making disciples right where you are at and if you want to reach other nations I can help. We depend on committed Christians to finance our cross cultural missions efforts. Would you please partner with us to fulfill Christ’s global mandate.